Internal-combustion engine.



A. B. GALKINS.

INTERNAL OOMBUSTION ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 23, 1912.

11 098 709 Patented June 2, 1914.

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ATTORNEY Wlj/VES 8 urs. M

A. B. GALKINS.

INTERN AL GOIYIBJS'I'IGET ENGINE,

APPLICATION FILED JULY23,1912.

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1,098,709. Patented June 2, 1914.

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INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE. APPLICATION FILED JULY 23, 1912.

1,098,709. Patented June 2,191

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" IIIIIIII WITNESSES ATTORNEY UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HUNDREDTHS 'ro'cnnnLEs ALMOND. GALKINS, or nurnnx, NEW JERSEY, Assmnon or FIFLDY-ONE oun- A, rerun, or NEW YORK, N. Y.

'mrnnlmt-connusrron ENGINE.-

To all whomit may concern:

Be it known that I, ALMON B. a citizen of the United States of and aresident of N utley, and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in,

multiple double acting type which may be used on motor boats, automobiles, trucks and also for aerial propulsion.

An. object of this inventionis to provide 7 an engine of the type described which will be simple in construction, inexpensive to manufacture, light, compact, wel1 balanced,

durable, highly efficient, and giving more. power with less weight than has been pos-- sible in prior types of internal combustion engines.

Another object of this invention is. to produce an internal combustion engine in which the propelling impulses due to the successive explosions will. be distributed among a plurality of evenly balanced explosion units so as to produce an evenly balanced torque on the crank shaft.

A further object of this invention is to provide a composite piston comprising a plurality of piston elements secured together so as to move in unison with means for connecting the composite piston to a crank shaft. .7

A. still further object of this invention is to eliminate stuffing boxes, piston rods, and the like, by'having each piston element opcrate in a pair of opposed explosion cy1- tween the pressure actuated ends thereof.

In carrying out these and further, ob

the up stroke and these explosions will take place in the diagonally opposed units, so that the thrust on the connecting rod will be well balanced. A particularfeature of Specification of Letters Patent. Application filed .l'uly 23, 1912. Serial No. 711,038.

1 this arrangement is in ton unit or element Wit-l1 an integralflange .CALKINS,

other s milar flanges,"

America, 1 county of Essex,

inder units and extending continuous be Patented June 2, 1914.

providinglieach piswhich forms with the a composite plate or cross,l1ead,to .which .the. connecting rod pincan'be secured so as to extend in any desired direction. Each p ston element extends into, two opposed units and is continuoustherebetween, so that the use of stufiing boxes, piston rods, and the like is entirely done away with.

Other features and advantages together with the construction and combination of .parts will be disclosed more fully hereinafter and particularly set forth in the claims.

Reference may be had to the accompany ing drawings forming a part of this specification, in. which like reference characters denote correspondlng parts, and in wh1ch- Figural is a viewin side elevation,Fig. a fragmentary vlew in side elevation taken at right anges to the view shown in 'Fig, 1, to show the exhaust connections.

Fig. 3 a detail View showing the several piston elements and the means for connecting them together to form a composite piston. Fig. 4 is vertical section on line 5-5of Fig. 4, Fig. 6 is a vertical section on line 6-6 of Fig. 4., Fig. 7 is a vertical section on line 7 -7 of Fig, 5, Fig. 8 is a vertical section on line 8- 8 of Fig. 5', Fig. 9 is a vertical section on line 9-9 ofFig. 5, Fig. 10 is a vertical section on line 10-.1 Oof Fig. 5, and Fig. 11 is a vertical section on line 11- 11 of Fig. 5. I

Referring more particularly to the separate parts of this invention as embodied in the form shown in the drawings, 1, 2, .8, 4:, 5, 6, 7 8, represent explosion units of a composite double-acting engine which is adapted to provide the rotary eflect fora crank shaft 9. It will be seen that while eight explosion units areshown, more or less might be provided. ,The explosion'units are so arranged,'however, that one set of four explosion units are superposed'above the other set of four, that is to say, each upper unit hasvertically alined therewith a lower unit. Each of these units includes a cylinder open at the end facing the opposed unit, so that in each pair of vertically alined units, a single piston element 10. can act. Each of these piston. elements, of which. there are four shown, is continuous from end to end a top plan view, Fig} 5 is a,

so that it will be capable of reciprocating with its pressure receiving ends within a pair of opposedv cylinder units. Arrangement is made whereby all of the piston elements 10 move in unison, so that they in'fact form a composite piston which transmits the propulsion effect given thereto to the crank shaft 9. To accomplish this purpose, there is secured on the crank of the crank shaft 9 a oonnectingrod 11 which extends upwardly to .a. point Whereitis provided with apin 12.

Aspecia'l feature of this invention is that all of the piston elements. 10 can be secured to the connecting rod 11 without interfering with the action of the device as a. whole. To accomplish this, each of the piston elements l0 has formed integrally therewith a sector collar or flange 15:. These sector flanges 13 of which there is one for each element 10, are four in number and form quadrants whichtogether make up a composite annular member 14:, the elements of which may be secured together by meansof bolts 15 connecting opposite lugs 16 provided on the juxtaposed flanges. The corner oteach flange .13 is cut away so'that an internal opening 17 is provided in the composite flange through which the upper end of the connecting rod 11 mayextend. The connecting rod pin 12 which is rotatably secured to the upper end of the connecting rod 11, is mounted in a collar 18' which may be adjustably secured in any desired posi- 11011 by means-of bo1ts19 on the'composi'te flange 141, That is to say, by changing the position. of the collar 18, the position of the pin 12. may be changed. The sector flanges together with the piston elements. mayfbe integral instead of bolted together, the parts which constitutethe body.- of-the rigid-piston member being made separate and bolted tr gether in the structure illustrated for convenience in manufacture.

The casing 19. may be provided for inclosing the lower explosion units and such portion otthe piston elements. as are outside of the explosion units, a chamber 20 being left, liowevento permit of the reciprocation of the, composite flange 14: and thefparts connected thereto. Each unit is provided with the usualintake passage 21 for supplying the explosive, mixture tothe interior of the" cylinder and with the usual exhaust passagesi22, for emitting the explosive gases to be driven from the cylinders. The "intake and; exhaust are controlled in any suitable manner as;by means of valves, 22 which may be actuated irom-cams 23 through the inter medial-y of connecting linkages 24.. The cams :23 may be driven from'the crank shaf 9, in any suitable manner as by having the sharts on which theyare mounted connected by ai suitablerains of gearing indicated 31:2-

The several units of the engine are cooled in a'novel manner which will now be de scribed. Each of the units isinclosed in a water jacket 26. The water ackets of the upper set of units 1 to a are connected by passages '7 to a common supply pipe 28 shown in the form of an annular ring. Similarly,'the' lower units 5 to 8 have their water iackets supplied by an annular pipe ring 29 which is connected thereto by passages 30. Both of the rings 28 and 29 are divided diametricallyas will be seen by reference to Fig. 11, by partitions 31, so that the circulation is divided to a pair of units in each case. The opposite'sides of each ring must, therefore, have inlet supply passages3-2 and 33, as will be seen by reference to Fig. 11. The water after circulating through :the water jackets of the cylinder units may pass through outlet pipes provided at the opposite end of each water jacket for each pair of connected jackets, the jackets being con.- nected in pairs by pipes 34.

The explosive mixture may be supplied to the passages 21 by means of pipes 35 which extend to acommon mixing chamber 36 which may be connected to any suitable form of carbureter not shown by means of the pipe 37. The bottom of the casing 19 may be formed with mullier chambers 38, so that the exploded gases which are carried oil by pipes39 from the passages 22 may be retarded and the noise of exhaust eliminated.

In the use ofthe device, the sparking and supplying of the explosive mixture is arranged so that the diagonally opposite units will act in unison, one pair in'the upper set acting on one down -stroke and the other pair acting on the next down stroke, the same being true of the bottom set, the diagonally opposed pairs acting on the alternate up strokes. For example, the units 1 and 3 will fire while the units 2 and 4 are taking in the explosive mixture on the down stroke. At the same time, the units 6 and 8 are compressin' the explosive mixture and the units 5 an 7 are exhausting. On the up stroke 6 and 8 will fire, 5 and 7 take in the explosive mixture, while 1 and 3 will .exhaust and v2 and 1 will compress. In the next revolution of the crank shaft, units 2 and l will fire, while 1 and 3 are taking in the explosive mixture, at the same time that 5-an'd 7 are compressing and 6 and 8 exhausting. On the succeeding up stroke, units 5 and? will fire, -6 and 8 take in the 'eX- p'losive mixture, 1 and 3 compress the mixture, and Q-and at exhaust. It will thus be seen that adistributed explosive impulse is imparted to the composite piston, so that the crank shaft will have two impulses in each revolution which impulses-are multiple,-

that is to "say, comingfrom a pair of cyL inders on each stroke. g

While I have shown one embodiment 03"- my invention, I do not wish to be limited to 1. In an internal combustion engine, the

combination with a plurality of cylinder units, of a composite piston for acting in said units, said composite piston comprising a plurality of piston elements having integral flanges formed thereon, and means for securing the flanges of all of said piston elements together to form a rigid structure whereby all of the piston elements are connected together in a unified structure, a crank shaft, and a connecting rod pivotally connected with said composite piston and with said crank shaft.

2. In, an internal combustion engine, the combination with a plurality of cylinder units, of a plurality of piston units acting in said cylinder units, said cylinder units be ing arranged in opposed pairs so that each of said piston units can act in two cylinder units to have both ends active, each of said piston units being continrous between it. active ends, a sector flange secured to each of said piston elements, means for securing said sector flanges together so as to join said piston units to form a unified composite piston, a crank shaft, a connecting rod, a pin on said connecting rod, and a collar for piv otally supporting said pin on said joined flanges.

3. In an internal combustion engine, the combination with a plurality of cylinder units, of a plurality of piston units acting in said cylinder units, said cylinder units being arranged in opposed pairs so that each of said piston units can act in two cylinder units to have both ends active, each of said piston units being continuous between its active ends, a sector flange secured each of said piston elements, means for securing said sector flanges together so as to join said piston units to form a unified composite piston, a crank shaft, a connecting rod, a pin on said connecting rod, and a collar for pivotally supporting said pin on said joined flanges, said collar being adjustably connected to said flanges so as to permit said pin to be adjusted in any direction with re spect to said piston elements.

4. In an internal combustion engine, the combination with a plurality of cylinder units arranged in opposed pairs, of a plurality of piston units, each piston unit being arranged to reciprocate in an opposed pair of said cylinder units, a sector flange secured to each of said piston units intermediate the 1 ends thereof, each of said sector flanges abutting a ainst each other and having their juxtapose corners cut away internally'so as to form 'an" internal opening, a crank shaft, a connecting rod mountedon said crank, a pin on said connecting rod, and a collar supported on, said flanges. so as to mount said pin in said internal opening whereby said connecting'rod is pivotally connected with said flanges.

In an internal combustion engine, the

combination with a plurality of cylinder units arranged in two oppbsedsets of four quadrantly disposed units, of a plurality of piston units, each piston unit being arranged to reciprocate in a pair of opposed cylinder units, a quadrant sector flange formed integral with each of said piston units intermediate the ends thereof, means to secure said quadrant flanges together so as to form of said piston units a composite piston the parts of which are rigidly secured together so as to move in unison, each of said quadrant flanges being cut away at its inwardly facing corner so as to form an internal circular opening, a crank shaft, a connecting rod mounted on said crank shaft, apin on said connecting rod, and a collar mounted on said flanges and forming a means of connection for said pin to said flanges whereby the connecting rod is pivotally connected with said composite piston.

6. In an internal combustion engine, the combination with a plurality of cylinder units arranged in two opposed sets of four quadrantly disposed units, of a plurality of piston units, each piston unit being arranged to reciprocate in a pair of opposed cylinder units, a quadrant sector flange formed integral with each of said piston units intermediate the ends thereof, means to secure said quadrant flanges together so as to form of said piston units a composite piston the parts of which are rigidly secured together so as to move in unison, each of said quadrant flanges being cut away at its inwardly facing corner so as to form an internal circular opening, a crank shaft, a connecting rod mounted on said crank shaft, a pin on said connecting rod, and a collar mounted on said flanges and forming a means of connection for said pin to said flanges, whereby the connecting rod is pivotally connected with said composite piston, said collar being circular and adjustable in said circular opening so as to permit an adjustment of said pin relative to the units of said composite iston.

7. In an internal combustion engine, the combination with a plurality of cylinder units, of a composite piston having a plurality of piston unit-s cooperating with said cylinder units, means for securing said piston units to move in unison, a crank shaft, a connecting rod mounted on said crank shaft, a pin on said connecting rod for pivotally connecting said rod with the piston units, and an adjustable support for said pin on said means whereby the relative position of said pin withrespect to the elements of said composite piston can be varied.

8. .Inan-internal combustion engine, the

v5 combination with a plurality of cylinder units, of. a .composite piston comprising; a plurality. of iston elements having a continuous cylin rical surface, avflange formed inte 1 with each piston element interme: diate the ends thereof, each of said flanges 'being cut out so as" to form a circular open- 

